College football Week 8: 5 sneaky good games of the week

Looking for underrated college football games this weekend? Here’s five sneaky good games for week 8.

We are now headed into the eighth week of the 2018 college football season. Last weekend, there was a multitude of upsets and surprising victories and chaos was present across all of college football. The entirety of the college football world was a bit topsy turvy last week.

There’s no guarantee that the same thing will happen this week, but there should still be plenty of interesting games across the country. On Saturday, plenty of equally matched foes will meet up and face each other. That should lead to some rather intriguing games.

Now, that said, plenty of the teams on this list are not good and won’t be going very far this season. In all honesty, there are some flat-out horrible teams that we are going to talk about. However, what redeems these teams is that they are getting a chance to play against a team that might just be equally horrible!

And though conventional thinking might lead you to believe that a game between two horrible teams would be downright painful to watch, there is a chance that an entertaining contest could develop.

Plus, it should be noted that there are some teams on this list that are actually, honestly good teams. There’s plenty of high scoring offenses, robust defenses, and intriguing head coaches throughout here.

And so, in no particular order, here are five under the radar college football games going on this weekend.

5. Virginia vs. Duke

At the moment, the Duke Blue Devils are 5-1 on the season and 1-1 against ACC teams. The Virginia Cavaliers are experiencing similar success and are 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Both of these teams are in rather interesting positions and could vastly overachieve this year with a few more notable wins.

This game could honestly impact that ACC championship game if enough craziness around the conference happens. As of right now, the Cavaliers control their destiny in the ACC Coastal and they even have a manageable schedule up ahead of them.

After this weekend, Virginia has games against North Carolina, Pitt, Liberty, at Georgia Tech, and then at Virginia Tech. Duke’s schedule is a bit more challenging than that, but the Blue Devils could still dictate what happens in there if they can keep winning.

These two college football teams have similar amounts of offensive output and similar amounts of defensive control in their games. Neither team looks all that impressive on paper, but the fact of the matter is both teams have found ways to win to get to this point. Duke is about to be bowl eligible and Virginia isn’t that far behind.

Watch Virginia vs. Duke on the ACC Network at 11:30 a.m. Central Time.

4. Minnesota vs. Nebraska

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have really gone through half of the 2018 season and are still winless. Things are not going well for Scott Frost. This team, despite how close it gets on a weekly basis, still have not found a way to win a single game this season. Now, Nebraska has come close several times. Still, the Cornhuskers have found plenty of ways to lost games.

Over on the Minnesota side of this game, the Golden Gophers haven’t won a conference game this year. Minnesota actually started this season 3-0 and got off to a great start. Since then, the Golden Gophers have lost three consecutive games and should be better than what they are right now.

So, between these two teams, a 0-7 record in Big Ten play is presented. Neither of these teams is good. However, they’re both somewhat close to being something that kinda resembles a team that might be good.

These two teams are fighting for the last place spot in the Big Ten West and only one of them can claim it. Again, neither of these teams are good, but that could make for a rather interesting college football game if the two teams are evenly matched here.

Minnesota and Nebraska will play on the Big Ten Network at 2:30 p.m. Central Time.

3. Tulsa vs. Arkansas

Like the last game discussed, this one doesn’t necessarily feature a good team. In fact, both Tulsa and Arkansas are on 5 game losing streaks. The thing is, only one of these teams can continue to have a 5 game losing streak by the time that this game is wrapped up.

Both Tulsa and Arkansas have shown to be somewhat resilient despite their weekly failures. Both teams have come close in games against better opponents recently, but neither team has been able to win in well over a month. Tulsa almost beat No. 23 USF, but still lost by a point. The Razorbacks almost beat Ole Miss, but they choked the game away late.

So, which team can come out on top here?

Neither of the offenses that will play on Saturday is good. The defenses that these teams field happen to be even worse. Tulsa and Arkansas average 381.2 and 375.9 yards per game respectively. The Golden Hurricane and the Razorbacks allow 398.5 and 430.6 yards per game respectively.

Neither team is good here. Neither offense is good here. Neither defense is good here. That might just mean that this game will yield some exciting plays and some interesting moments.

Arkansas hosts Tulsa at 11:00 a.m. Central Time on the SEC Network.

2. Louisiana vs. Appalachian State

This game is when things start to venture back into the “these teams might be pretty decent” territory. Except, in this case, the Appalachian State Mountaineers are actually fielding a team that is legitimately good in its entirety. The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns are a team that has a pretty good offense but a horrific defense.

The only game that App State has lost this season was a heartbreaking season opener on the road against Penn State. Since then, the Mountaineers have been tearing through foes left and right and nobody has been able to field an offense that can keep up. App State gains almost 500 yards a game and keeps its opponents to 288.2 yards per contest.

Louisiana might be able to bring an offense that can score into this game. However, don’t be surprised if it can’t keep up simply because of how bad the Ragin’ Cajuns’ defense is. While Louisiana’s offense gains 475.2 yards per game, its defense gives up 474.5 yards per game.

If you were to round those numbers up and down, you’d see that Louisiana is gaining as many yards as it is allowing. That’s not a great recipe for success, but there’s an outside chance that this offense can put at least a few points on the board in Boone, North Carolina this weekend. Just, you know, don’t hold your breath in hopes that it will outscore these Mountaineers.

The Ragin’ Cajuns and the Mountaineers will play on ESPN+ at 2:30 p.m. central time.

1. Memphis at Missouri

This game will feature two teams of Tigers that can score at will almost every defense in the country. And for whatever reason, the Mizzou Tigers thought that scheduling this game for homecoming was truly a good idea. Prior to when this was scheduled, it may have felt that way. However, Memphis boasts a legitimately dangerous offense.

Last weekend, when Mizzou was struggling against the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide down in Tuscaloosa and ended up losing by 29 points, the Memphis Tigers were going toe-to-toe against the defending national champion UCF Knights and almost won.

Drew Lock and the home team will need to get out ahead of Memphis early on in this game and put the visiting Tigers away if Missouri wants to win this game. Otherwise, the Memphis Tigers will continue to push and score against Mizzou.

This college football game should feature two great offenses that will score plenty of points to keep this game entertaining, regardless of who wins. Mizzou enters into this game on a three-game losing streak. Memphis comes in after losing two of its last three, but at least those Tigers look a bit more sure of themselves right now.

The Tigers and Tigers will play at 3:00 p.m. Central Time on the SEC Network.